But soon after receiving the diagnosis, Mughal and his wife were confronted by a complication that would make their daughter’s fight even harder.

Zainab’s blood type is extremely rare, according to OneBlood, a Florida-based blood distributioncenter. Her parents and immediate family members reportedly don’t have blood types that match. And Zainab will need blood transfusions for the duration of her cancer treatment.

Courtesy of OneBlood
Zainab Mughal is a two-year-old from South Florida who is battling neuroblastoma.

Frieda Bright, OneBlood’s reference lab manager, said that the search is an “all hands on deck” effort for the organization, which helps distribute blood donations to more than 200 hospitals in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina.

“We are searching the world trying to find blood for this little girl,” Bright said in a video. “She’s going to need to be completely supported by blood donations in order to survive the cancer treatment, in order to kill this cancer.”

For donors to be a perfect match for Zainab, they need to fulfill a number of specific criteria. The donor’s birth parents must both be of 100 percent Pakistani, Indian or Iranian descent. The donor’s blood type must be either “O” or “A.” And crucially, their red blood cells must be missing a common antigen called “Indian B.”

Less than 4 percent of people with Pakistani, Indian or Iranian heritage are missing the Indian B antigen, according to OneBlood.

Courtesy of OneBlood
Zainab Mughal needs blood donations from people of Pakistani, Indian or Iranian descent whose red blood cells are missing a specific antigen.

The organization said that two matching donors have been located in the United States. The American Rare Donor Program, which searches internationally for donors with rare blood, found another matching donor in the United Kingdom.

But since Zainab will need blood transfusions throughout her treatment, OneBlood is trying to locate at least seven to 10 donors.

OneBlood claims more than 1,000 people of Pakistani, Indian or Iranian descent have donated blood to see if they were a match for Zainab. Those units have been tested but so far, the organization said it hasn’t been able to find additional matches.

Mosques in Florida have been holding blood drives to check for more matches. Imam Muhammad Musri, president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida, has donated blood as part of the effort and has been encouraging members of his mosque to do the same.

“From a faith perspective I say praying is not enough, prayers and thoughts are not enough,” Mursi said in a OneBlood video. “God expects us to go further and give blood.”

My Talan. He's a leukemia warrior. He's 8 years old and he's just a regular kid. <em><strong>We call them "warriors" and "heroes" and "fighters" but really they're just kids... kids who are fighting a battle much bigger than any of us and nobody asked them if they were up to it.</strong></em> So when I say he's a regular kid it's because the worst part of his treatment is over and he's getting back to doing the only thing he should have to do right now. He's being a kid. <br><br>
This photo was taken a year to the date and I've never been able to get over the difference in his appearance. These kids live through hell. The worst part is knowing that as a parent you can only walk so far down that road with them. Talan would get sick to the point of bile. I wanted to comfort him so I'd reach out to rub his back or touch his neck with a cool rag but he'd put his hand up and without looking at me, in the best voice he could muster he'd say "No." That was the most profound moment as a parent caring for a child with cancer. He had to do the really bad parts alone and I could only watch. -- Tevin Yarger